Kam Scores 100% in Oscar's Predictions

12 Years a Slave Lands Best Picture

Yours Truly Scores 100% on Oscar Picks

12 Years a Slave walked away with big prize, Best Picture at the 86th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday. The historical drama was directed by Steve McQueen and also netted accolades in the Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o) and Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley) categories. Dallas Buyers Club also won a trio of Oscars, although Gravity landed the most overall, at seven.

The event was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, who did a phenomenal job of loosening up the crowd with bits ranging from ordering pizzas for the audience to taking a group selfie with some of the celebs in attendance. Her good-natured brand of humor was not only hilarious but seemed tailor-made for the occasion.

The acceptance speeches were uniformly gracious, with both Lupita Nyong'o and Jared Leto's proving to be particularly moving. Perhaps the only one with a glaring faux pas was Cate Blanchett, who inexplicably went out of her way to thank Woody Allen at a time when he's being shunned by polite society because of his daughter Dylan's recent allegations that he'd molested her as a child.

As far as this critic's Oscar handicapping, faithful readers who relied on my predictions in their office pools were richly rewarded since all 21 of my picks were correct. See: https://plus.google.com/+TroyJohnson/posts/LSYJJEgnZnj

Complete List of Academy Award Winners
Best Picture: "12 Years a Slave" Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club" Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine" Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club" Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave" Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity" Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze, "Her" Best Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley, "12 Years a Slave" Best Foreign Language film: "The Great Beauty" (Italy) Best Documentary Feature: "20 Feet from Stardom" Best Animated Feature: "Frozen" Best Original Song: "Let It Go" from "Frozen," music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Best Original Score: Steven Price, "Gravity" Best Visual Effects: "Gravity" Best Film Editing: "Gravity" Best Cinematography: "Gravity" Best Sound Mixing: "Gravity" Best Sound Editing: "Gravity" Best Costume Design: "The Great Gatsby" Best Production Design: "The Great Gatsby" Best Makeup and Hairstyling: "Dallas Buyers Club" Best Animated Short Film: "Mr. Hublot" Best Live-Action Short Film: "Helium" Best Documentary Short: "The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life"

Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee. Contact him through NewsBlaze. Read more reviews by Kam Williams.

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